Marlene Mckinnion stood in frount of her bathroom mirror studying her reflection. The bags under her eyes were proof of her sleepless night. She bit down of her bottem lip as she nervously ran a hand through her short purple-streaked black hair. Her eyes were puffy, she splashed her face with cold water as she tried to banish all remnents of the nightmare that kept her up all night. She checked to see if all her piercings had made it through the rough night. With one last look at her reflection, she walked into her room and collapsed on her bed.

She curled up on her side as she finally relized what today was. The day she's been dreading all summer. The day she starts at her new school, Hogwarts. Until recently Marlene lived in Boston, Massachusettes. In the U.S.A. Her dad had decided to move to London, England to be nearer to the 'family'. Sure their new house, 13 Grimmauld Place was wicked sick, but Marlene hated being ripped from the place she grew up, the place she loved. What she wouldn't give to move back to the city she knew inside and out. The place where she was sure of herself, where she felt alive.

With a huff of aggrevation she walked into the closet, she still couldn't think of anything here as 'hers'. The room didn't even look anything like her room at home. Only the red walls proved that the room was hers. The poster-less walls echoed the emptiness she was feeling. She sorted through the mass of clothing until she found the outfit she was seeking, jeans and her favorite tank top. She also grabbed her black hoodie. With one wordless [Iswish[/I of her wand she was dressed in the outfit. Another swish and her hair was no longer the mess it was and her makeup was done. A few braclets, her studded belt, all her piercing intact, and she was ready. One more swish her trunk was packed and Midnight was in his carrier. With one sweeping look she looked for anything she may have missed. Glad to be gone, she dissappeared with a little POP! and was standing in frount of the big scarlet Hogwarts Express.

She didn't bother looking around at the people milling around. She was already sick to her stomach, this was the last place she wanted to be. Without looking around she headed for the train. She climbed up the stairs dragging her trunk along, trying to attract as little attention to herself as possible. Upon entering the beautifully decorated corridor, she headed to the back of the train where she could probobly find an empty compartment. Finally she found one in the very back and quickly entered. She stowed her trunk and let Midnight out of his basket. Before settling she took her ipod out and laid out on 3 of the seats. Midnight curled up into her side. Closing her eyes she fell under the spell of the only thing that could calm her, music.

Lily Evans quickly kissed her parents goodbye and ran off to catch up with her friend Dorcus Meadows. After a few minutes of running with her trunk slowing her down, she managed to grab her friends arm and huff out breathlessly,

"Dori! Didn't...You...Hear...Me...Yelling?!?"

"Oh my god! Lily!" Dori shouted. She's always been on the loud side, "I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you!" She hugged Lily while trying to mantain her handle on her trunk.

"It's o.k." Lily giggled as she returned the hug. "Let's just find Jenelle and find a compartment. k?"

"Wait! Don't you have a compartment to yourself, Miss-I'm-Head-Girl??!" Dorcus tried sounding offended.

"Hahaha. Yeah, I have to go there first, but i'm gonna come back to meet you guys. You think I don't wanna spend the train ride with you? How could you?!?" Lily said dramatically.

"Ok. Ok. Hahaha. Wait! I think I see... Yeah! Hey! JENELLE!!" Dori waved her hands franticly. Jenelle looked around for the source of the voice. She spotted them and quickly headed over.

"Lily! Dori! Oh my god i've missed you guys!! " Jenelle yelled as she ran to embrace the both of them.

"Jelly! I've missed you too! But it's only been a week." Pointed out Dori.

"Haha Dori. Wow. Leave Jelly alone. C'mon! Let's go find a compartment! The train's leaving soon!" Lily grabbed her trunk and hurried to the train. They walked down the corridor looking for an empty compartment. Finally Lily found one at the very end. They all entered and found out it wasn't empty at all. A person with purple-streaked black hair, multiple piercings, and a "The Grim Tales of Billy and Mandy." tank top was sprawled out on the seats, sleeping. Dori accidently slamed the door shut and the sleeping person sprang up, frightened. The black kitten hissed and hide behind the basket on the seat. Marlene was startled to see three other girls standing in the compartment. With a quick look she figured they were harmless and sat crossed-legged on the seat. She smiled hesitantly at the girls. Lily was the first to return the smile and introduce them.

"Hi. I'm Lily Evans, this is Dorcus Meadows..."

Dori cut her off, "Call me Dori, I hate the name [IDorcus[/I."

"Yeah true." Lily agreed. "and this is Jenelle Serlinia, or Jelly for short. We were wondering if we could share this compartment, all the others are full." Lily explained.

"Um..Yeah. Sure. Oh Yeah, I'm Marlene Mckinnion." The girls beamed at here and setteled into the compartment. After all the trunks were stowed, all the attention was back on Marlene. Lily was the first to break the ice.

"So..Marlene. I havn't seen you here before, what house are you in?"

"Donno yet." Marlene answered. "Just transfered here from Boston. Dumbledore doesn't usually accept new 7th year students, but he let me in cause I had good grades and stuff."

"Speaking of good grades," Jenelle broke in, "Lily, don't you have to go to the Head's Compartment?"

"Oh, Shoot!" Lily Jumped up. "I got to go. Bye guys! I'll be back soon!" After the dorr slammed shut Marlene said,

"So that's...Lily? Right? She seems really nice."

"Yeah she's nice to everybody." Jenelle answered. "So this is your first time at Hogwarts?" Marlene nodded. "Wow. You got a lot to learn. Did your old school have 7 years and O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S?"

"Yeah."

"That's basically how Hogwarts works. There's the standard classes, but it's huge. All the staircases and walls like to confuse the students, so don't be surprised if the staircase you take today leads you somewhere else tomorrow. And then there's the ghosts, they won't bother you that much. But watch out for Peeves, he's has this thing out making students lives a living hell . Just stick with us, we'll help you out. Oh yeah, stay away from the Slytherins. They're a nasty bunch."

Dori nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and don't forget the Marauders."

"Um. Did i miss somthing?" Marlene asked. "Who are the Marauders?"

Dori giggled. "Well the Marauders are a bunch of guys from Gryffindor. There's James Potter, Peter Pettigrew..."

"Don't forget Remus!" Jenelle broke in.

"Yeah" Dori said with a slight smirk toward Jenelle. Jelly slightly blushed. "Remus Lupin and Si.." Dori was interrupted by a lound BANG! as someone slammed the compartment door open.

"Honey!!! I'm Hooome!" A tall guy with long black hair that fell into his eyes literally skipped into the compartment. Two other students followed him in, the last one shutting the door behind him. The taller one seemed embarresed by his friends behavror, the short and slightly fat one seemed to envy him. The guy who had started all the commotion plopped down on the seat next to Marlene. He leaned against the windowsill looking at Marlene saying,

"So. Who's this new babe?" He looked her over. Marlene just rolled her eyes. She got enough of this in Boston.

"My names not 'babe'," She said with obvious annoyance, "It's Marlene. And who the hell do you think you are?"

"Well, a little feisty are we? That's fine with me. Well Miss. Marlene. I'm Sirius Black." His expression made it clear that she should recognize the name and start woshipping his feet. His smile slipped a little when she just raised one eyebrow and gave him a bored expression.

"So? Is that supposed to mean something?" Everyone started laughing at Sirius' expense. He just gave them all disgusted looks.

"Really Sirius, you can't expect her to know of you! I mean, c'mon!" One of the guys said. He held out his hand and said to Marlene. "I'm Remus, Remus Lupin. I apologize for my friends obvious stupididy. We can never really figure out how he made it passed 1st year." Marlene gave him a friendly smile and shook his hand. Sirius just stared at the scene open-mouthed at his friends betrayel and stammered.

"But!..But!.. It's Me! The Dashing! The Daring! The Charming! SIRIUS BLACK!"

"Mhm." Marlene mimicked his voice, " The Dashing! The Daring! The Charming! SIRIUS BLACk! Who is also a pig-headed, egotistical, punk who's flies undone." Sirius gave a little gasp of horror and looked down at his pants. When he saw that she was lieing, he gave a little smirk and scooted closer.

"Well, Well, Well. At least we're making some progress. You didn't deny that I was dashing, daring, and charming. And why were you, oh Miss. Marlene, looking at my crotch?" Marlene gave him a disgusted look and was about to retort, when she was interrupted by the slamming of the compartment door as a fuming Lily came storming in. She was followed by a tall black-haired guy who was smirking. Sirius jumped up and squealed as if Christmas had come early.

"Prongsy! And dear Lily!" Lily stopped short and gave Sirius a look of utter loathing.

"What is he doing here?!?!" Lily said. She swung around and snapped at the guy behind her. "And why are you following me, Potter?" She spat out his last name as if was the most disturbing thing she had ever said. The raven-haired guy just smiled at her calmly and said.

"Well Lily," He put emphasis on her first name. "Seeing as my friends are here, I'm simply joining them. It has nothing to do with you." He gave her another smirk and went to sit across from Sirius. Lily sat on the other side of the compartment and refused to look his way. Potter grinned amusedly at Sirius and noticed Marlene for the fist time, and noticed the way that Sirius was looking at her. With another quick look at his friend, he turned his attention to Marlene.

"I don't believe we've met before, I'm James, James Potter. I see you've met Sirius." He grinned at Sirius, who was still looking at Marlene's chest with a look of concentration on his face. Marlene, unaware of Sirius, shook James' hand.

"I'm Marlene Mckinnion. You're friends with this… thing? How can you stand it?" She didn't hear James' answer. She had finally relized what Sirius was doing and slapped him across the face.

"What the HELL are you doing?!?!" she shouted.

"Nothing!! I was just reading your shirt!" Sirius said, but the look on her face told him she thought otherwise. "Honest! What are the…Grimy?.. Tales of Billy and Mandy? Sounds kinda dirty if you ask me." He leaed in closer. " I was thinking, maybe we can get a little…dirty.. sometime." Marlene held back the yelling and put an expression of longing on her face.

"Really?" Marlene leaned a little closer as she surreptiously grasped her wand. " I was thinking the same thing…" She whispered. The kept leaving closer, and just when their lips were about to touch, she sprayed him full in the face with water from her wand.

"You think I'm that easy!!!!?!?" She yelled as she stormed outta the compartment, slamming the door as hard as she could.

Sirius, dripping wet said.

"I think she likes me."